The CN Blue & Gold sat down with Junior Kelly Denes to discuss the college that she has just committed to—Notre Dame.

CN Blue & Gold: Why did you choose Norte Dame?
Kelly: The visit was everything; when I went there it felt like home. The coaches were super nice to me and the experience I had there was super awesome. The academics and athletics there are just above all else.

CN Blue & Gold: Why do you want to play lacrosse in college?
Kelly: It is just something that I have loved forever and in the 8th grade when I started playing travel super seriously I just knew that I wanted to keep playing.

CN Blue & Gold: What was the committing process like?
Kelly: It was definitely stressful and September 1st was kind of hard because that is when all the schools started contacting me. It was a big rush and a lot of pressure and I think taking it slow was good and it was exciting.

CN Blue & Gold: Did the colleges approach you or did you approach them?
Kelly: I would email the schools that I would maybe want to go to and tell them where I was playing and what tournaments I was in but then they would call me back if they were interested.

CN Blue & Gold: What were the other schools that you were looking at?
Kelly: [I was also looking at] Navy, Duke, University of Pennsylvania, Loyola, and Maryland.

CN Blue & Gold: What are you most excited about at Notre Dame?
Kelly: I am most excited about the [school] spirit, and being a part of a team there and just everything [in general].

CN Blue & Gold: What major step did you take to get looked at by these amazing schools?
Kelly: Doing the work outside of practice, not just working hard at practice but also going home and doing my wall ball, just shooting on my own and getting exposure with a great club team.

CN Blue & Gold: What would you say to anyone going through the same process?
Kelly: Do not feel pressured; everything will work out fine. Send your emails and work super hard and just make sure you are having fun and don’t get down on yourself.